Kinnersley Kent Design, one of London and Dubai’s most prestigious design consultancies, has completed the interior design of Aloft Al Ain, a stylish new four-star hotel in the heart of the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium development in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
The hive becomes an integrative component of the current master plan “Ipogea”, developed by the city of AL Ain. The study proposes trees rendering the area a more attractive natural setting. Additionally we designed a pavilion which runs parallel to the highway limiting the spread of the urban encroachment. This pavilion becomes a venue for future exhibitions in a “nature-oriented” atmosphere. The pavilion is an hexagonal structure composed of aluminum ribs. The design takes its inspiration from the shape of oases and beehives functioning as micro cities within the pavilion. Each hex consists of a carbon structure covered with a Kevlar fiber (woven with geometric patterns) and a protective insulation layer. We keep the environment cool by a piping system designed to cool both the interior and exterior with fine-mist water spray. To contribute to the interior comfort, the floor is suspended and ventilated. The structure is extremely light and designed to be easily mounted; each hex is autonomous from a structural point of view and is removable since it is bolted to the lightweight platform that supports it
The newly completed HBZ Stadium is the home of Al Ain Football Club, one of the leading clubs in the UAE Pro League. Designed by Pattern Architects, the 25 000 seat FIFA class football stadium introduces a new approach to sports architecture in the Gulf region by embedding Al Ainʼs identity into the very fabric of the design. Part of this identity is defined by the local desert climate and landscape.
Set into the desert landscape, the Al Ain football stadium celebrates the game it hosts as much as it celebrates the site in which it lays. Recognising the powerful language of its surroundings and intelligently approaching the issue of scale and the intermittent use of the stadium architecture, the project sinks its 200,000sqm structure into the ground and turns the rocky mountain into one of its main features. It creatively works with the topography and relies on a series of emerging planes to mould the space and help cater for the 40,000 seats it provides. The stadium maximizes the use of on-site material and its visionary design merges landscape and architecture, thus blurring the boundaries between the built and the natural and creating a space that allows the visitor to interact with the stadium activities, much as with the desert landscape itself.